Periods as your GPS

As women, the ONE thing that we all have a love-hate relationship with is our PERIODS. Think about it. We hate it when we get it every month because we feel it’s a burden to deal with. We love it when we don’t get it for the right reason (when this indicates a much needed pregnancy). But what happens when we either don’t get it at all, or it does not follow a specific monthly cycle or it has stopped abruptly.

Typically, there are these 3 scenarios:

We hit the PANIC button & rush to see a doctor immediately.
We don’t DO anything at all, as we think some abnormalities are bound to happen when we are bleeding for almost 30 years (on an average) in our life-cycle.
We CELEBRATE as we are happy to bid goodbye to this forever.

Most of us fall into the second category, as either we are not aware of the abnormalities we are facing OR we don’t consider this an important issue to be addressed Or we are just too busy taking care of our family and there is no time to think about our health. In addition, if this is anything to do with periods, then it is always a last priority or something to be discussed/done only when we have all the time in the world. Unfortunately, that time never comes and all such abnormalities go unnoticed, which prevents early detection thereby leading to severe disorders. Most of these could have been prevented in the first place, simply by being aware of what is happening in our body during every monthly cycle and making a mental note of whether everything is good or it needs attention.

What happens when you get a regular bout of fever, cough & cold? Do you end up thinking that its ok to have fever and this is our body’s natural way of cleansing & de-detoxifying itself? No, we rarely do that. We are completely aware of our body temperature, associated issues, the time the fever hit the roof, since how many days we have fever, and so on. We take stock of this, visit the doctor and also inform our family about this. If in case we are affected by any lifestyle disorder, such as Diabetes, Arthritis, etc. we get paranoid, jump into action mode and do everything possible to treat it. We read everything that’s available on the net regarding the problem, discuss the issue rather passionately with our family & friends, seek references of good doctor & specialists, try out home remedies and so on. But, surprisingly, when such a similar issue is happening inside our reproductive organs and its screaming out for attention & help, we are dispassionate about it and hardly jump into the action mode.

This is because, we have been conditioned since childhood to not openly discuss anything regarding periods, menstruation or our reproductive organs. However progressive we may have become as a society, we still consider Periods to be a taboo topic and we do not express this enough with the same levels of energy & enthusiasm, as we do with other matters in life.

It’s time to change that, NOW. When we talk of women’s health – we need to include not just physical, mental & emotional health, but also our reproductive health. Periods are an important & integral aspect of a woman’s health. It is important not just because we need to have strong reproductive capabilities, but because having healthy periods is a sign of healthy hormonal balance. And a healthy hormonal balance is needed for right development of your bones, digestion, metabolism and mood.

So the next time you have your periods, don’t forget to tune into your own, personal GPS (Gynaec Positioning System) and listen carefully to what its telling you. When you do that, you become aware of what you need to do and how to prevent those bumpy rides & overcome speed breakers on your journey to great health.